FA VASE SECOND ROUND REPLAY
Hanworth Villa 2
Littlehampton Town 1
BOBBY Dawson has warned Croydon his Hanworth Villa players head into this weekend’s FA Vase third round clash on a high after a last-gasp winner secured victory over Littlehampton.
The Villains boss thought the goals were never going to come in Tuesday night’s second round replay at Rectory Meadow, until late strikes from Levi King and Steve Reddings cancelled out Alex Kew’s opener for the Marigolds.
It leaves Dawson with just a few days to prepare for the trip to their Combined Counties Premier Division rivals, but the wily old manager believe the bounce from the midweek triumph will more than make up for the quick turnaround.
He said: “I thought we were the better side and had all the chances. We could have won the game 4-1 to be perfectly truthful. We squandered so many chances and their keeper made one or two fine saves, so you’ve got to say the best side has gone through based on that.
“I think having the game come so quickly will go in our favour. We come away from this one absolutely buzzing so we’ll take that buzz with us. Croydon are in our division so they know all about us. They’re not going to come here, watch us and learn anything that they didn’t already know. We’re going to go there and have a real go and Croydon will have to match that.”
The first chance fell to the Villains as a slip in the Littlehampton defence allowed in Ricky Farnden but the midfielder, bursting from deep, scuffed his shot.
But it was Littlehampton who took the lead on 20 minutes as tricky winger Kew, who caused problems all evening down the left, cut inside and found the net at the second attempt.
Farnden was influential in the middle of the Park for Hanworth and could easily have bagged two or three before half-time, however time and time again he was denied by the resilient visiting back-line.
Villa’s best chance of the half came just before the interval as Josh Brooks lobbed the keeper but saw his shot hacked clear by a covering defender with the ball looking destined for the net.
Villa piled on the pressure in the second period but it looked like their efforts would be in vain until King dropped his shoulder on the edge of the penalty area, beat his man, and found the bottom corner with a low drive.
On a freezing night at Rectory Meadow nobody wanted extra-time and the hosts secured the win inside the 90 minutes as substitute Reddings bundled home the winner after the Littlehampton keeper had failed to deal with a cross from the left.
